Bibliometric Analysis of Perception Management and Future Trends

Today, with the impact of globalization and digitalization, perception management has become a strategic tool that shapes the thoughts and behaviors of institutions and societies. Perception management aims to influence the opinions, feelings, and behaviors of the target audience by using conscious communication strategies, while manipulation and propaganda involve more deceptive and misleading tactics. This study uses the bibliometric analysis method to understand the relationship between these three concepts and the status of academic studies on these topics. The study aims to analyze perception management between 2000 and 2023 and discuss future research trends. Within the scope of the study, the data collected in the Scopus databasewere analyzed with the “bibliometrix” module in the R program. In this context, bibliometric indicators such as annual publications and citations, top authors, institutions, countries, most cited publications, network analysis, clustering, and trending topics are presented. Findings from this research reveal that perception management has garnered significant and rapidly increasing academic attention in recent years. It finds the USA, the UK, and Germany leading scientific contributions, with perception management increasingly tied to digital tools and artificial intelligence. It reveals that perception management has shifted to social media and machine learning applications and has gained increasing importance in digitalized societies. Future research could explorethe interplay of technology, ethics, and communication strategies. This bibliometric study fills a critical gap in understanding the intellectual landscape of perception management, offering insights into its ethical applications and highlighting areas for future exploration.